Kick in the teeth for sports fans as fresh rail strike looms in Yorkshire

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Published:13:15Friday 07 April 2017

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Sports fans and Saturday workers are facing travel headaches tomorrow during a 24-hour strike by train staff in Yorkshire.

The walkout by members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union at the Northern operator is due to start at midnight tonight.

Northern has said it is aiming to run about a third of its normal Saturday services, with hundreds of replacement buses also being pressed into action.

The strike is likely to cause disruption for football fans who travel to games by train, with Middlesbrough, Barnsley, Huddersfield Town, Leeds United and Sheffield Wednesday among the local sides in action tomorrow.

And people from Yorkshire planning to head by train to Aintree in Liverpool for the Grand National have been told to brace themselves for disruption at both the start and end of their journey, with RMT members at Merseyrail also staging a 24-hour strike tomorrow.

The strikes have been called in a dispute over driver-only operation on new trains and follow a walkout on the same issue on March 13.

Northern regional director Paul Barnfield said the operator would be doing everything it could to keep customers on the move.

Mr Barnfield added: “All of Northern’s services will be limited and we ask customers to plan their travel carefully.”

The majority of tomorrow’s Northern services are due to run between 9am and 5pm, with the firm warning that “very few” trains will operate outside of those hours.

RMT general secretary Mick Cash has said there is “no case whatsoever” for axing guards from trains.